What we carry in D2 Tool Steel and 8Cr13MoV
Choose D2 for dry, abrasive cutting and 8Cr13MoV for wet or salty work. D2's heavy carbide load keeps an edge working longer, but most of its roughly 12 percent chromium is locked inside those carbides, so it spots when neglected. 8Cr13MoV is a true stainless, rated tougher and more forgiving on a stone, and it gives up edge life to get there.
| D2 Tool Steel | 8Cr13MoV |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| tool steel (semi-stainless / air-hardening) | stainless (Chinese GB standard) |
| Made by | |
| Generic AISI grade; produced by many mills. Bohler's proprietary equivalent is K110 (see k110 entry). | Generic Chinese mill grade; treated as a domestic analog of AUS-8. |
| Composition | |
C 1.4-1.6%Cr 11-13%Mo 0.7-1.0%V ~1.0% (or less, mill-dependent) | C ~0.80%Cr 13-14.5%Mo ~0.15%V ~0.10% |
| Hardness | |
| 58-62 (up to ~64 with cryo treatment) HRC | 55-62 (commonly shipped around 58-60) HRC |
| Edge retention | |
| Very good to excellent for its price tier; high carbide volume gives strong wear resistance. | Fair to good; a well-regarded value steel that outperforms lower Cr-Mo Chinese grades. |
| Toughness | |
| Moderate, more brittle than tougher stainless like 14C28N or MagnaCut; can chip on hard use if ground thin. | Good for its class, forgiving to sharpen. |
| Corrosion resistance | |
| Only ~12% chromium and most of it tied up in carbides, so D2 is often called 'semi-stainless', it resists light rust better than true carbon steel but will still stain/spot with neglect, unlike 420HC or VG-10. | Good, solid mid-chromium stainless. |
| Where it sits | |
| Upper-budget to mid-tier workhorse; long-standing favorite for fixed blades and hard-use folders where cost matters. | Ubiquitous entry-tier stainless on budget/mid folders and multi-tools; considered the compositional twin of AUS-8. |
| On this site right now | |
| 160 listings, 106 distinct models, $10.49 to $217.43 | 88 listings, 69 distinct models, $13.49 to $56.03 |
The usual question about D2 and 8Cr13MoV is whether D2 is worth the upcharge. The answer turns less on price than on the conditions the blade works in. D2 is a semi-stainless tool steel and 8Cr13MoV is a true stainless value steel, and each one is strong exactly where the other gives ground. Put the knife in a dry pocket or a dusty shop and one set of trade-offs matters. Put it in a tackle bag, a sweaty work glove or a kitchen drawer and the other set does.
Hardness will not settle it. The published ranges overlap: D2 is listed at 58 to 62 HRC and 8Cr13MoV at 55 to 62, most often shipped around 58 to 60. A blade in either steel can land in the same place, and the heat treat on any one knife is set by its maker, not by the alloy name. Knives Now does not test the heat treat of individual knives, so read both ranges as descriptions of the steel. Both steels have neighbors on the wider Steel Lab worth reading before you decide.
D2 earns its price on abrasive material in dry conditions: cardboard, rope, plastic strapping, the steady run of boxes on a loading dock or a job site. It carries 1.4 to 1.6 percent carbon, far more than the roughly 0.80 percent in 8Cr13MoV, and much of its chromium combines with that carbon into hard carbides. Those carbides keep a D2 edge cutting after a lower-carbon stainless has gone dull, which is why references rate its edge holding very good to excellent for the price, against fair to good for 8Cr13MoV.
The same carbides set the terms of ownership. Whatever resists wear in the cut also resists the stone, so a D2 edge allowed to go fully dull takes longer to bring back. Toughness is the other cost. D2 is rated moderate, more brittle than the tougher stainless grades, and a thin D2 edge used for prying or twisting is likelier to chip than an 8Cr13MoV edge. If your cutting is long, straight and dry, those costs stay small. The full D2 entry explains why the chromium ends up in carbides, and the D2 buying guide sorts that shelf by use.
8Cr13MoV suits a knife that gets wet and does not always get dried. Its 13 to 14.5 percent chromium is not spent on carbides the way D2's is, so it resists the sweat, rain and food residue that leave spots on a semi-stainless blade. D2 handles light moisture better than a plain carbon steel, but it stains when it is put away damp. For a fishing knife, a kitchen utility blade or a folder that rides in a humid pocket through the summer, that difference matters more than the gap in edge life.
The rest of the 8Cr13MoV profile points the same way. It is rated tougher than D2, good for its class against moderate, so a slip onto a staple or a knot costs less metal. It is forgiving to sharpen, which means a ceramic rod or a small stone brings it back without a long session. What it gives up is time between sharpenings: expect to touch it up sooner than a D2 blade doing the same dry work. No stainless is rustproof, so rinse off salt and dry the blade either way. The 8Cr13MoV reference page covers the AUS-8 comparison and the spread in hardness, and anyone who wants a shopping list rather than a steel lesson can start with the 8Cr13MoV value knife guide.
Kershaw sits on both the D2 and the 8Cr13MoV shelves, which makes the choice unusually clean on this site. Of the 160 D2 listings here, 35 are Kershaw, alongside Civivi, Böker Plus, Böker, Gerber and Buck. Of the 88 listings in 8Cr13MoV, 87 are Kershaw and one is a Buck. If you already know the brand and the size you like, the steel is often the variable you are really choosing.
Two assisted-opening framelocks show it. The Kershaw Payout Framelock A/O has a 3.5 inch stonewashed D2 blade and a G10 handle at $80.19. The Kershaw Bracket Framelock A/O has a 3.5 inch stonewashed 8Cr13MoV cleaver blade and a glass filled nylon handle at $53.33. Same maker, same lock type, same blade length. How a glass filled nylon handle stands next to G10 is laid out in G10 vs FRN. The Payout suits someone who breaks down boxes and wipes the blade off afterward. The Bracket suits someone who will get it wet and would rather sharpen more often than scrub off spots.
The price spans follow the same logic. D2 listings here run from $10.49 to $217.43 with a median of $62.96, and 8Cr13MoV runs from $13.49 to $56.03 with a median of $37.13. The step up in the median is real, and so is the overlap at the low end. When the price question is really about Swedish stainless, 14C28N against 8Cr13MoV takes that one on.
The figures on this page are the published specification ranges for the alloy, cross-checked against manufacturer datasheets and independent metallurgical references. They describe the steel, not any one knife. Hardness in particular is a range a mill and a knifemaker work inside, and Knives Now does not test the heat treat of individual knives, so nothing here is a claim about what a specific listing measures.
Cross-checked against the sources above. Figures verified 2026-07-19.
